Lily in Love
by Firenzie
Summary: Great title huh? I suck at them, plus endings for fics. This is, duh a romance story about James and Lily, not much to explain..


Lily in Love

By Firenze

Lily sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. She was trying desperately to study in the library, but everyone was so noisy that she couldn't concentrate. She was surprised that Mrs. Pince wasn't pulling out her hair right now. 

Mrs. Pince was the librarian; she was totally obsessed with books and silence, just like her daughter who was a few years older than Lily.

Suddenly, from another table, a quill hit her right in the head. She picked it up from the ground where it fell and rubbed her head. It had hit her with the nib, or point, and just above her eye. It was a nice, elegant quill, ostrich feather she guessed. She walked around the shelf of books from which the pencil flew over. She stopped a few yards from their table, hidden in the shadows. 

She saw Remus Lupin and Sirius Black wrestling over an _Encyclopedia Mythica_. James Potter was sitting at the same table, trying in vain to study from his Arithmancy textbook, _Numerology and Grammatica_. Peter Pettigrew was rubbing his forehead, asking, "Prongs, Padfoot, Moony, do you guys know the number of toad spleens for an Enlargement Elixir?"

"I told you already Wormtail, it's five and ¾," James muttered, not really paying attention. He peered all around the table, and looked under books and piles of parchment. "Padfoot, what happened to my quill? You know, the one with the ostrich feather that my aunt gave me?"

Sirius was holding back Remus, who was tugging at the huge volume. "What Prongs? Oh, your quill. I threw it over the bookshelf." 

Lily stepped out of the shadows. "Is this it?" she asked James shyly.

James seemed to blush a little. "Yeah," he said, apparently very flustered. "How did you find it?"

"Oh," Lily said, her cheeks turning pink. "It head me in the eye." 

James glared at Sirius. "Nice one Padf – uhhh…Sirius." He turned to Lily. "Are you okay?" He got up out of his seat and examined her eye closely. 

Lily handed him his quill. "Oh, I'm fine. It just hit me with the tip. I'm okay; it was just a little scratch, really." She was getting very nervous with James six inches away from her face. 

Just then, Sirius whistled. "Isn't that cute?" he whispered a bit too loudly, nudging Remus in the ribs.

"Ow! Say it a bit louder, why don't you Padfoot?" he said angrily.

Lily grinned bashfully. "I think I'll go now." She turned and walked away. "See you later, Padfoot, Prongs, Moony, Wormtail." 

As she was leaving, she heard Remus hiss, "Great job guys, now she probably knows." 

'Knows what, I wonder?' Lily thought to herself. Maybe she had been right in thinking there was something odd about those four. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lily sighed. All this cramming for the Transfiguration written test was really getting to her. She was a particularly average student, but she only excelled in Charms. Transfiguration, however, was her weakest spot. She sighed, quite loudly, but she didn't realize. 

"Something wrong?' asked a familiar voice. 

She looked behind her, and saw James Potter looking over her shoulder. She just sighed again, and leaned back into the sofa cushion. "It's just – "

"What?" James asked, sitting down next to her on the sofa. He peered at her sympathetically with his deep brown eyes. 

"It's just all this studying for the Transfiguration exam. I think I'm going crazy trying to memorize all these things." 

"Well, Transfiguration is my best subject," James told her.

"Thanks for rubbing it in," Lily snapped, and instantly wished she hadn't. "Oh, I'm sorry. It's just finally getting to me, all this cramming."

James looked a bit hurt, but then just looked even more concerned about her. "It's okay. I can help you with it, if you're having a hard time."

"That's an understatement. Transfiguration is my worst subject of all. Do you understand any of this stuff about Animagi?"

James looked a bit startled. Did she know? Was she hinting that she knew about their secret? He just blinked.

Lily waved her hand in front of his face. "Hello? James? Are you in a trance or something?"

James grinned. "I'm fine." _'Except my palms are all sweaty and my heart is beating five times as fast in my throat,'_ he thought to himself. He felt like thousands of butterflies were in his stomach. "S-so what don't you get about Animagi?" he asked, his voice shaky. 

"Just about everything," Lily confessed. 

"Well, which part are you looking at right now?" he asked, casually leaning over in his spot to look over her shoulder at the book. 

Lily turned to face him, and found that their faces were four inches apart.

Loud whistles, cheers, and catcalls, coming no doubt from Sirius, interrupted them. He was hiding behind an armchair, and Remus and Peter were glaring disapprovingly at him from behind another.

"Now I know why they call it a loveseat," Sirius commented loudly.

Remus stood up and faced Lily and James, who had instantly backed away from each other. "That's the second time in two days that that's happened. You have to excuse Sirius," he told Lily, glaring reproachfully at Sirius, "he's like that with every girl one of us likes." Remus instantly covered his mouth with his hands.

Lily blushed, but not as much as James. He looked fiercely at Sirius and Remus, then got up and walked out of the portrait hole. "I'm sorry Lily," he apologized sincerely, "but I can't help you with your exam right now." 

Sirius looked really ashamed, and Remus looked like he wanted to punch himself. Peter just stood quietly, with a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. 

"I could help you," Sirius offered to Lily. "I'm pretty good at Transfiguration too, not as good as James mind you–"

"I don't know if James would like that," she said quietly, understanding, finally understanding. She stood up. "Excuse me. Thanks for the offer anyway…Padfoot." She gathered her books, picked up her bag, and walked away, up to the girls' dormitories. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Lily? Lily?" Her friend Jane Hawthorne was looking at her. "Are you okay?"

"Just tired, I guess." 

"You got something."

Lily brought her head up. "What do you mean?"

"Well, this beautiful snowy owl tapped its beak against the window. I let it inside, and there was an envelope…" she paused and grinned mysteriously, "…and a little something else with it." 

"A snowy owl? What else? From who?" Questions were running rapidly through Lily's head. 

"Well," Jane said giggling. "The only person I know with a snowy owl is – " she beamed at Lily. "James!"

"James who?" Lily asked stupidly. She felt still half-asleep. 

"James Potter of course!" Jane was in hysterics. "Isn't that so great? Open the envelope, I can't wait to see what it says!" 

Lily rolled her eyes, but she was a bit excited herself. She carefully opened the long, thin, light blue envelope. It was addressed, simply Lily, and no name from whom it was from was on it. Inside was a piece of white parchment, embroidered with gold and silver stars. And in capital letters in dark blue ink, it said:

OPEN AND READ IN PRIVATE. DON'T TELL ANYONE WHAT IT SAYS, AND DON'T LET ANYONE SEE IT. NO, NOT EVEN JANE, DESDEMONA, OR ELISA. AND ESPECIALLY DON'T TELL PADFOOT, MOONY, AND WORMTAIL. THIS IS STRICTLY BETWEEN YOU AND ME. PLEASE KEEP THIS A TOTAL SECRET.

"What does it say?" Jane asked eagerly. 

Lily grinned mysteriously. "I can't tell." She walked over to the window seat and sat down. "Jane, can you please leave? I need to read this in private."

Jane rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks." She stood up and walked out of the room. "See you at breakfast Lily!"

Lily just nodded and unfolded the paper. She read it over. It said:

Dear Lily,

Hello. This is Prongs, James; same thing. I wanted to apologize to you. For a lot of reasons actually. First and most importantly, I'm really, REALLY, truly sorry that I didn't get the chance to help you with your Transfiguration. But I believe in you and I know you can get a good grade without me. Padfoot told me that he offered to help you, but said, "(quote) I don't know if James would like that. (unquote)" I'm a bit muddled, to tell the truth. Because I wouldn't mind at all. I want the best for you, and it would be better if you got all the help you could get. 

Second, I'm really sorry for always getting so close to you. You know what I mean. How we're always ending up inches away from each other's faces. I'm apologizing because…well, sometimes I do it on purpose. Yes, sometimes I just want to be closer to you. Pathetic, huh? I'm sorry; I just can't help myself. (I'll explain later on in the letter) It's kinda like Moony, the way I can't contain myself (that'll be explained too).

You probably don't know what I'm talking about. But that brings up two points. I'm also apologizing to you because of my friends. So it's not really Moony's fault, but Padfoot does it mainly on purpose. He's the greatest friend, but he always tries to embarrass me.

And I know you heard what Moony said. Yes, it's true, but I wish you didn't have to find out that way. I know you already know now, but wouldn't it be better if I told you? Lily, I really, really like you. Yup, two _reallys_. You don't know how long I've felt this way. You may hate me now, but I wish you wouldn't. Could we just be friends? Times might get awkward, but if I can't be with you, I'd rather be with you. (There's a difference.)

I've made a confession to you, but I'm not quite done. There's a lot more I have to tell you. If the guys found out I told you, they'd probably kick my ass. The truth is, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and I are different.

Remus especially. You see, he's a werewolf. Yup, one bit him when he was a kid. That's why he gets sick once a month. We found something odd out too. Look at this: Lupus=wolf (in Latin). He wouldn't tell us that he was a werewolf, but we had our ways of finding out. And Padfoot, Wormtail, and I wanted him to not feel so different. 

Have you ever wondered why we call each other "Moony", "Wormtail", "Padfoot", and "Prongs"? We're Animagi you see, but not Remus. Now that you know that, can you guess what animals we transform into? Sirius is a shaggy, big, black dog (kinda like the Grim). Here's another strange, coincidental connection: Sirius=_Dog Star_. Peter (Wormtail) is a mouse. And I, Prongs, am a milky white stag. Yeah, it's kinda cool. And nobody knows, because it's completely confidential. Not even the Ministry has tabs on us; we're unregistered. 

Please don't tell anyone in the world about the contents of this letter. Everything is secret, and I told you because, well, you're you. Sorry I had to ruin your life. Please take the attached pink rose. It doesn't have to necessarily mean… Well, look at it this way. Whatever you want it to be, it can be that. That's basically all. See you in the morning Lily.

Love always,

Sincerely yours

**From**,

Sorry so sloppy.James Thomas Potter

Lily was in utter, utter shock. "Great wizards," she thought to herself. She picked up the beautiful, fragile, pink rose. "How sweet," she said audibly, to no one in particular. She smiled to herself as she clutched James' letter and the rose, then walked out of the room and to the Great Hall. 

She sat down in her regular seat by Elisa Donnerman, Jane Hawthorne, and Desdemona Owens. Quietly, she ate her breakfast of French toast, while her friends gabbed and chattered. 

"So Lily? What did the letter from James say?" Elisa asked.

"Just that he was sorry that he couldn't help me study for the Transfiguration exam." It wasn't really a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. 

"He's looking, no _staring_ at you," Desdemona mused. That's what Lily liked about her. She was basically silent, and didn't get so excited over something that was really nothing. Unlike Elisa.

"Oh, that is so cool!" she squealed. 

"Why?" Lily asked, truly confused. 

"I think he likes you!" she squeaked. 

"Yeah, he sent her a decorated letter, and a pink rose!" Elisa and Jane squealed again with excitement.

"Why don't you make sure if he likes you or not?" Desdemona asked teasingly.

"Why not?" Lily asked calmly. "I think I will." They gaped and gawked at her. The Lily they knew so well would never even dream of taking something like that literally. 

"You know, I wasn't serious," Desdemona told her.

"Can I come?" Elisa and Jane asked at the same time.

"I know, but I'll do it anyway. And no, you two can't come," Lily said firmly. The two groaned. Lily got up from her seat and walked over to the other side of the Gryffindor table, where James was sitting with Sirius, Remus, and Peter. "Hello," she said cheerfully, feeling really nervous inside.

Sirius grinned, and was most likely about to make some witty remark that only he would dream of saying out loud whereas other people just thought it to themselves, but then he just bowed down his head. 

"Hey," Remus said, and started to strike up a conversation with Peter.

"Hi," James said, feeling himself turning red. 

"Ummm…James?" Lily said, twisting her fingers. "Can we talk?" she asked, hinting that she meant in private. 

Sirius looked ready to make another comment, as he opened his mouth, but then he quickly shut it. He decided it would be wisest if he kept it to himself for now and told Remus and Peter later to avoid any…complications and squabbles with James. 

James shrugged. "Sure," he said, trying to act as though he had no idea what she was going to talk about. He followed her out of the Great Hall and into the deserted corridor. "What is it?" he whispered.

"Well," she murmured back, "I have some confessions to make myself. Not as big of course, and not as important." She paused for a while. 'James, why are we whispering?" 

James laughed. "I don't know," he confessed, still in whispers. 

"Okay then." Lily still spoke softly. "James, first I wanted to tell you to stop being so paranoid." James got that really cute; hurt kind of look that girls fainted over. "Let me explain. Why do you assume that I don't like you? You really underestimate yourself. Do you have any idea how many witches would sell their soul just for you to say a word to them? Elisa was going on for days how when you walked past her in the corridor, you brushed against her arm."

James looked a bit sheepish.

"Those are my friends for you. Well, what I mean to say is I like you too. A lot really. Do you know how long I daydreamed about you; about us being together?"

"You're good at hiding it," he told her. 

Lily smiled. "You don't know how happy I was after I heard what Remus, or should I say Moony, said. And after your letter. I can't believe you just spilled all your deepest secrets to me." 

James blushed. "That's what you do to me," he admitted. 

Lily smiled at him again, and then they both blushed.

"Thank you so much for the rose," she said, "I think it's so incredibly sweet. Thank you so much James." She leaned over, and stood on her tiptoes a bit to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. They both turned beet red, but were more ecstatic than words could describe. "Well, see you later."

Both of them walked back into the Great Hall. 

"Please don't let anyone know about us," James whispered to her, as they were about to separate. 

Lily grinned. He had said "us"! Did that mean…? She nodded. "Of course. And please don't tell anyone about the…ermmm…thing I did to you," she added lamely. 

James blushed, but smiled at just thinking about it. "Anything for you," he murmured. 

"Thanks." Lily walked back to the end of the table where Jane, Elisa, and Desdemona had been trying desperately to hear her. They instantly struck up a conversation, but it made them seem even guiltier. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

"So?" Remus asked James. "What was that - " He cleared his throat and imitated a high-pitched girl tone. " 'Ummm…James. Can we talk?' " 

Peter laughed. "You sound just like her."

"He does not," James snapped. "Lily sounds nothing like that inexperienced mime."

"Gee, sorry Mr. Sensitive," Remus said. 

"It's that overprotective boyfriend side taking over," Sirius said; glad to finally get any comment out, now that Lily wasn't around. 

To their surprise, James didn't appear in the least bit affected by that statement. They wondered if he had even heard it at all. 

"Well, what did she want to talk about in private?" Peter asked. "It wouldn't have anything to do with you getting up and five in the morning stealing my favorite sheets of parchment embroidered with stars at five in the morning would it? Or taking Moony's dark blue ink and one of his light blue envelopes? Sitting in bed really early writing out a letter and attaching a pink rose which was transfigured from a toilet paper roll?"

Sirius and Remus stared in disbelief at James, who was beet red.

"I – I can explain," he said. 

"Then by all means, tell us Prongs," Sirius said casually, "After all, we're only you're best friends in the world, who never keep secrets from each other."

"In simple words," Remus added, "spill it." 

James sighed. "Okay, okay…"

~*~*~*~*~*~

"What happened?" Jane, Elisa, and even Desdemona asked excitedly. Because this was a big deal. 

"Nothing much," Lily said mistily, enjoying how much her vagueness was bothering them.

"Nothing much?!" Elisa cried out in disbelief. "You just told the most popular, best-looking guy who's nice, smart, and athletic that you liked him and nothing happened?!"

"Pretty much, yeah." 

"She's lying," Desdemona said calmly, biting into an apple. "It was the best experience of her life."

Lily and the girls stared at her. "How'd you know that?" they all wondered. 

"Oh. I just know."

"But how?" Lily asked impatiently.

"I'll tell when you spill it," Desdemona said.

Lily shook her head. Which is what she did for another thirty minutes of her friends asking, begging, pleading. Finally, she did. They listened intently, but she carefully left out the kissing part and the "us" part. She didn't want to make an assumption, but it seemed like it… 

Desdemona grinned at the end. "I was right! I bet you kissed him too, didn't you?"

Lily was shocked. She didn't answer, but by her shocked expression, they knew. "Now, how did you know that?" 

She grinned. "Want to know the great secret?" They nodded eagerly. "Well, here it is… I was on my way to the bathroom and Lonnie Davis said she saw you and James whispering. I turned around, and came just in time to see the kiss."

"You snoop!" Lily cried, but then she laughed. Even if they would now pester her constantly, it was good to have her friends know. 

The End

(For now, if I decide to make a sequel)

You know what? This time, I won't put my work down; I'll let you decided for yourself. That was my first Lily/James fic, so just remember that if you don't like it. To tell the truth, I've had this done for more than a month, but I forgot about it and was too lazy.

Okay, and finally, here it is… *deep breath; starts to talk incredibly fast*: Hogwarts, Lily, James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, etc. all belong to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Publishing, etc. The characters Jane Hawthorne, Elisa Donnerman, and Desdemona Owens belong to me, and anything else you don't recognize that I forgot about.


End file.
